Production of pattern effects in cotton and other vegetable fiber fabrics, also including silk



quent treatment with water is capable ofa, UNITED v STATES *EICHAEESMITH WILLOWS, 70F mANC IIEsTEE; FREDERICK TOMLINSON POLI1ITT,,OF.

PATENT OFFICE.

W'QEB'S LE'Y, ANID THOMAS LEAGH, OF MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.

rEonuCTIoN-oF FATTEEN EFFECTS IN COTTON AND OTHER FABRICS, ALSOINCLUDING SILK.

NoDrawing. I

To all whom it"ma'y concern:

Be it known that we, RICHARD SMITH WILLows, FREDERICK TOMLINSON POLLITT,

and THOMAS LEACH, subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing atManchester,Worsley, and Manchester, 'all in the county of Lancaster andKingdom of England, have inventedcertain new and useful Improve 'mentsin the Production of Pattern Effects in Cotton and other Vegetable FiberFabrics, also Including Silk, of Whichthe following is a specification;

' The ments in the production of pattern effects on cotton and othervegetable fiber fabrics and also including silk hereafter termed textileorganic fabrics.

The object of the invention is to obtain certain delicate yet' clearlydefined effects.

It is of course common to produce pattern effects by embossing fabricseither in the dyed or undyed or mercerized or unmercerized condition bysubjecting the fabric to the action of suitable embossing means, usuallya heated roller upon which there isa pattern in relief. In view of thefact that subse-- partially or completely nullifying the effect of theembossing which appears to be'either in the direction of compression ofthe fiber or change of its state of hydration, it was to be expectedthat the delicacy of such. patterns would be seriously impaired if notdestroyedby subjecting embossed fabrics to the action of dyeingsolutions.

It has in fact been proposed to mercerlze a fabric and to emboss thisfabric While in the wet state and thereupon to dye the em-' the desireddelicate and sharply defined pat v tern cannot be obtained'in-this Way;it may be noticed that this proposal only extended to mercerizedmaterials and not to unmercerized materials. 7

It is the object of the present invention to overcome this disadvantageand this result has been successfully achieved by employing thefollowing steps in combination, viz:

1) Conditioning the fabric so that it contains from about 5 to 15% ofWater, i. e. fabric containing the. amount of water common to air-dryorslightly moist condition.

presentinvention relates to improvedamp fabric or by selecting thefabric at the right stage of dryness. (This amount of moisture 1scr1t1ca1 since if wet fabrics are used, blurred effects areobtained.)

. (2) Embossing a pattern on the conditioned fabric by suitableembossing means.

(3) subjecting the embossed fabric to treatment by a dyeing or amercerizing or parchmentlzing agent, either single or' in combination.

These three steps areessential and if they are all applied it will befound that a delicate yet well-defined pattern will be obtained on the'dyed' or mercerized orparchmentized fabr1c.. If uniform compression isused, a

uniform sheen is imparted to the fabric 4 after step 3.

Thus a fabric of cotton or other'vegetable fiber, flax, jute, ramie ornettle, or also a fabric of silk may or may not be treated with any ofthe usual processes preparatory to dyeing such as scouring, bleaching,mordant-- ng, crping or mercerlzing or parchmentizmg and is thendampedor dried until it contains 745% of water as determinedby Patentedpr. 4, 1922. Application filed J'anuary ll, (1922. Serial No. 528,578.vI I VEGETABLE FIBER I dryingfor one hour at a temperature of Theconditioned fabric is then pressed, e. g. under a heated embossingroller or plate pezrmg the desired pattern or design in re- The embossedfabric isthen dyed and may be finished by any ofthe usual processesincidental to this operation for instance calendering, printing,embossing, mercerizing, schreinering or raising. In some cases the dyingmay be replaced by operation such as mercerizing or parchmentizing. Theessential point of this third step is that the fabric is treated withsome reagent whereby a differential effect is produced so that a patternresults. In other words, we can cause fixation of the pattern by the useof a suitable chemical reagent such as the dye or parchmentizing agentor other agents. By parchmentizing after embossing, plain cotton fabricsmay be caused to resemble brocade. The designs or patterns so producedare not only clearly defined when made but remain clearly definedthrough all processes to which the fabrics are likely to be submitted inlaundering, or other cleaning I processesto which the fabric or articlesmade therefrom are likely to be submitted in or after use. 7 p p Thefabrics prepared as described are characterized by the feature thatalthough:

the relief caused by embossing has disappeared, i. e. the pattern is mone plane, yet

the moisture content er unit area isdifferent in the parts the fabricforming the pattern and the'background. This difference is due to theapphcation of premure 'and then subjectin and heat during embossingandit persists after the further treatment described."

We declare that what we claimv.is

1. The process of treating textile organic fabrics which comprisescompressing a fabric containing from 5% to 15% of moisture thecompressed fabric to the action of a c emical reagent.

2. The process of treating a textile organic fabric which comprisesconditioning the fabric till it contains 5% to 15% of moisture,.

' compressing the fabric and then subjecting and uncompressed fabric.

' of a chemical reagent.

the fabric to theaction of a chemical reagent which has a' differentaction on'com pressed 31 The process of treating. cotton fabric whichconsists in compressmg fabric con- 'taining 5% to 15%. of. moisture andsub-' mitting the compressed fabric to the action 4. The rocess oftreatin a tegtile organic fabric WhlOh comprises em ssing. the fabriccontaining 5% to 15% of moisture to probossed attern, and then treatingthe emabric' with a chemicalreagent to make the pattern permanent.

6. The process of treating ;unmereerized duce a cotton fabric whichcomprises compressing the fabric and then submittingthe com- I pressedfabric to the 6.'Theprocess of treating unmercerized cotton fabric whichcomprises embossing a pattern thereon and then treating'the, fabric witha chemical reagent toinake the pattern permanent.

action of a chemical 7. The process-of t'reatinga cotton fabric a .whichcomprises embossing a fabric contain ing 5% to 15% of moisture, and thentreat ing the embossed fabric with a parchment-h.

* izing reagent.

8. Textile organic fabrics havin a deli cate yet clearly definedpatternproduced-by embossing the fabric containing 5% to 15% of moisture andmade of a chemical reagent.

permanent by action 9. A cotton fabric ,havin a delicate yet In witnesswhereof, we have hereunto "i signed our namesthis 23rd dayof December1921, in thefpresence' of twofsubscribing witnesses. a r

' mcam sum! WILLOWS, I

some: TOIILINSDI PouJT'L;

. "moms mcu.

' .Witnesses:

JonN Wmmnr Tnorus, ERNALD S. Mosnmr.

